Life – a cup at a time
Are you a runaway? Most of us are, at one time or another. Maybe we don’t pack our favorite stuffed animal in to a small backpack and sneak out the bedroom window; maybe we don’t end up as homeless teenagers on the streets; maybe we don’t create a new identity or drop off the grid …
We all have our own ways of coping with stress. If you’re like me, you probably have a mix of good, bad and neutral methods. I used to think I handled things pretty well over all. Then I got married and was quickly disabused of that idea. The last several months have found me employing …
Whether facing a hurricane and flood, wildfire, volcano, loss of a job, or flat tire, we all have moments when we feel helpless. But I maintain we aren’t as helpless as we think. Often our cultural stereotypes are to blame. I’ve met countless men working away from home who are clueless when it comes to …
Not all heroes have integrity, but most all who have integrity are heroes. During the non-stop coverage Sunday morning after the death of Senator John McCain, they replayed a clip from an interview after one of his presidential campaign defeats. The reporter’s question was, “How would you like to be remembered?” It’s one of those …
Expectations are tricky devils. We all have them. Sometimes they are called goals, or rules, or values, or job descriptions, but anytime they can fit into the sentence “I expect you to_____,” they are expectations. They can bring security and happiness or heartache and depression. Expectations helps us work together as a community. When we …
The American Dream is dead. That’s what we’re hearing, from blue-collar workers to university professors to immigration lawyers. Is it really? Certainly, it’s become harder to immigrate to this country. And it’s also become harder to achieve home-ownership, living debt free and retiring comfortably. And the news constantly bombards us with pictures of angry, disenfranchised …
When it rains in the desert, it tends to come down hard and fast, and doesn’t soak in as much as it runs to lower ground. We had a quick and hard shower at work today, but it evaporated pretty quickly. Just about as dry two hours after as it was before. (About 20 miles …
Early morning is my favorite time of day in the desert. You can smell the sagebrush and rabbitbrush, the tiniest hint of moisture, and absorb the quiet and stillness. We live in a house with an established yard and big shade trees, but it’s still in the desert. I love to look out the window …
There’s an old saying, “Bloom where you are planted.” I remember the first time I heard or saw this, my reaction was, “But I don’t like where I am.” I think I was a teenager at the time. Lots of water has gone under the bridge since then. The first inkling that there was some …
Whether you call it Coincidence, Chance, Karma, Fate or God at work, things happen. I don’t always see it, or understand it, or even like it, but when certain things happen, I find myself saying, “OK, God, you know what you’re doing.” Let me share an example of what I mean. My husband recently had major surgery …